Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Petrus by Gordon Ramsay (1 Michelin Star)

Gordon Ramsay is probably Britain (and arguably the World's) most "celebrity" chef. So much so that even people with no interest in the culinary world would probably have seen him from one of his many TV ventures (like Hell's Kitchen or Masterchef, for example).

It's not all a bed of roses for the Chef who currently holds 12 Michelin stars, though. Petrus, reviewed here, was originally opened at the Berkeley Hotel and helmed by Gordon's then-protege Marcus Wareing. The two had a very public falling-out, Wareing split from Gordon Ramsay Holdings, but didn't take the restaurant name with him.

So this new restaruant, then, is Gordon Ramsay's attempt to re-invent or re-introduce Petrus to the London dining scene.

The dining hall is bright and airy, and is circularly centered around the round central wine cellar. What I find odd is that the windows facing the street aren't particularly well tinted, so it gets quite glaring when the sun's out.

We're here for the £30 3-course set lunch, which starts off with an amuse bouche of breaded Venison 'nugget' served with apple slices and tartare sauce; tender, crispy and delicious.

The complimentary bread with salted butter ... was rather ordinary and nothing to write home about.

For starters, I go for the Tartar of Casterbridge beef with toasted brioche, foie gras, baby artichoke and quail’s egg. It's the first time I've eaten Beef Tartare (i.e. raw beef), so I'm not so sure how this really stacks up, but against my expectations it was actually very dainty and delicate-tasting.

Like during our meal at Dinner, though, I don't at all care for the pickled vegetables.

Moving on to the Pan fried and marinated Cornish mackerel with sour cream, compressed cucumber and pine nuts; which oddly enough reminds us of japanese-style saba shioyaki. Except much juicier, more tender, and with less seasoning as to let the taste of the fish shine through the salt.

For mains, I go with the Crispy Suffolk pork belly with black pudding and sage jus. The pork is tasty on its' own, but the addition of the black pudding and the mango/pear/prune salsa really elevate the taste.

Shame, then, that the skin of the pork was not at all crispy. Gordon should fly to any random Chinese city and learn how they make their siew yuk, because the skin is tough and mushy and sticks all around the molars after some chewing, which ruins the experience somewhat.

The other main course we chose was the Poached breast of chicken, lasagna of confit leg, shallots and lemon thyme jus, and it really opens our eyes as to how good a chicken dish can be.

Oh, main courses are served with side dishes of brocolli with lemon zest, and seared potatoes, which were pretty good. Complimentary, too, which is icing on the cake.

After the main courses, another complimentary mini-course of coronet with passion fruit cream. Oh, and with popping candy at the bottom for a pleasant surprise ending.

For desserts, we start with Chocolate sphere with milk ice cream and honeycomb. This photo doesn't look as good as it should; I sort of neglected to take a photo of the sphere before the waiter poured the hot chocolate sauce over the sphere, melting the chocolate before it re-solidifies over the milk ice cream.

Orange and vanilla baked Alaska, Grand Marnier sauce is the other dessert we try, and is equally as delicious, if perhaps not as flamboyant.

To cap off the meal, yet another complimentary mini-course of four white chocolate balls served in a bed of dry ice.

Overall, the amount and quality of the food, coupled with the impeccable service, was a steal for the price we paid - £33.75 net per person after the 12.5% discretionary service charge. Which makes it all the more frustrating in comparison with fine dining in Singapore where similar food with worse service would easily cost double.

Petrus is near Knightsbridge Metro; but it's situated a fair bit out of the way and needs a 15-minute-or-so walk.

£33.75 very cheap right? Consider that Sage lunch is rm100, Cilantro lunch is rm150, for us in MY it is like strictly special occasions only. But in UK, 30quid can eat at 2 star place liao, like that means every month I will go eat lol.